We're going to be honest with you for a moment: we really miss the 2D art style of the older Pokémon games. There's just something timeless about it, right? Not to mention there was a distinct lack of discourse around the graphics back in the day (okay, perhaps a slight resentment from fans at the slow evolution of the series' visuals, but that's about it).
Pokémon's visuals, in this writer's opinion, really peaked around Gen 5, which consisted of Pokémon Black and White, plus their immediate sequels. Now don't get us wrong, we're loving the look of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet so far, but we can't help but wonder what such games would look like with the older pixelated visual style in place of the more modern 3D graphics.
Well, we don't have to wonder any longer, as Reddit user CoffeeRacoon has taken the liberty of altering sprites from older generations to depict what the protagonists of Scarlet and Violet - along with the starter Pokémon - might actually look like if they appeared in the older games (thanks, GameRant).
As clarified by CoffeeRacoon, the starter Pokémon Sprigatito, Quaxly, and Fuecoco have been realised by altering the sprites for Purrloin, Ducklett, and Totodile from Gen 5. Meanwhile, the sprites for the protagonists have been created by altering a couple of NPC sprites from Gen 4's Diamond and Pearl.
We have to say, despite some clear differences between the sprites and their official counterparts (Sprigatito looks quite stern when compared to the more cheerful expression depicted in the official art), this is an incredibly convincing attempt at blending the old with the new. Indeed, we'd be more than willing to play a version of Scarlet and Violet with pixelated graphics - just imagine how lovely that would look!
What do you make of these particular creations? Are you happy with the way Scarlet and Violet looks visually? Let us know with a comment!
[source reddit.com, via gamerant.com]
Comments 21
Lovely work, even though they're more like reskins than actual designs from the ground up. Gotta love the community though, doing all of this
Seeing things like that really makes me wish they would do a sprite based 2D game again. Not that I dislike the 3D games but it would be a nice change of base
I think a remake like of Gen 5 or Gen 2 would be perfect for something like this
It’s all fun and games till one of them starts walking around like a human and is apart of the human like egg group.
(Love the work, it looks amazing!)
I am sure it would be incredibly difficult and probably not pay off, but this makes me dream of a Pokemon game that has two visual modes for the player to seamlessly chose between - a full contemporary 3D overworld version, and then a sprite-based 2D version.
Fits very well with the old sprite aesthetic.
Very good edits (I especially like the trainers), even if the Pokemon look a tad bit off though that's not a fault of the person, that's just them taking older sprites and fusing the new Pokemon with them.
@sisodinr Dragon Quest XI did that!
@sisodinr Yes! Like DQ 11. Would be such a beautiful thing to happen if we could explore a pixel art version of the same game, but there is no way Gamefreak would ever devote time to something like that. Even the top-down remakes are fully 3D.
@HefHughner @nessisonett
I didn't know that! That's so cool, but now it just makes me angry because I definitely agree Gamefreak would never do that. Rather, they'd just make a different game and sell it separately (I can't blame them).
how they shouldve been from the start lol.
I can't believe you didn't go with "those sprites you like are going to come back in style".
Zelda, Sonic and Mario all go back and forth between 2D and 3D so why cant Pokémon?
The mania route would be great, get a bunch of fans to make a pixel 2d game (or make a Mario maker esque game where people can make their own region!... Will never happen...)
Those sprites look pretty garbage
I miss 2D Pokemon...
I just know someone will use these in another Fire Red rom hack
Since there's a huge community of sprite animations, there are people around making fanmade sprites of newer Pokémon in the style of older games.
This just confirms the new playable characters are basically just NPCs and that is why they are so bland looking.
This is barely news, and they don't even look that great 😂 it's a fun little thing. But the spriting community for fan games is on another level. See Radical Red, there's beautiful, detailed sprites for every Pokemon up to gen 8, all within the fire red engine. It won't be long until the same is done for gen 9 after scarlet and violets release.
@Xiovanni No 😰
I remember people complaining about how Pokémon games were still using sprites with Black and White... Now people want sprites again. Lol
Now this makes me want Scarlet & Violet in the same style as Black & White with all the dynamic camera stuff.
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